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in brief: charity fatigue, Club One-O-One, Portsmouth wins arts award and more |
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Written by Larry Clow
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Wednesday, 02 November 2005 |
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Page 2 of 3
One-O-One creates new options for Seacoast gay scene
When Spencer Henderson moved from Boston’s South Shore to Newmarket
three years ago, he thought for sure there’d be an active, visible
social scene for gay men in the Seacoast. Because of the region’s
reputation for progressive politics and supporting the arts, “I didn’t
think for a second it would be difficult to find a social scene at
all,” he says.
Henderson soon found he was mistaken, though. The Seacoast is kind of a
social desert for gay men, lacking the gay bars and pride events found
in nearby cities like Boston, Portland and Ogunquit. The lack of social
options inspired Henderson, however, and he started Club One-O-One, a
member’s only “gentleman’s club” that he hopes will liven up the local
scene.
“For the first time, I felt I had to try and do something as opposed to
moving somewhere else,” he says. So, Henderson focused on what he knows
best.
“Going after legislation, I don’t know enough about that,” he says.
“But I do know how to throw a good party, and I do know how to be a
good host.”
Henderson emphasizes the social aspect of One-O-One. There’s drinking
and dancing, but Henderson sees One-O-One as a place to make friends
and meet people in a relaxed setting.
Unless you’re a member, the only way to find Club One-O-One is to visit
its Web site, www.cluboneoone.com. It’s not an actual, physical
location—instead, members meet bi-weekly at an unpublicized site. As
Club One-O-One attracts more members, Henderson expects to use a
rotating series of locations to meet every two weeks. Most of the
club’s clientele have found it by word of mouth. There was a small ad
placed in The Wire for a few weeks, but Henderson says he’s trying to
keep the club as low profile as possible. It’s not that he doesn’t want
the club to grow, but Henderson is more concerned with keeping members
comfortable and maintaining One-O-One’s private atmosphere. That’s why
Henderson only reveals the club’s current location to members. While
some of the members are openly gay, Henderson says others might not
have come out to family and friends yet, making discretion key. “It’s a
small town,” he says.
While the Seacoast isn’t totally lacking in social options for gay men,
they are few and far between. James Daniel is president of Seacoast Gay
Men, a social group that’s been meeting regularly for the last 26
years. SGM meets every Monday at the South Church in Portsmouth. SGM
offers a wide range of activities, from movie screenings and potluck
suppers to an autumn dinner/dance and a summer cruise. Daniel says the
invisibility of a GLBT social scene is something his group has also
struggled with.
“We go to high visibility events like pride parades, but the nearest
ones are in Portland and Boston,” he says. “Unless you’re kind of
actively seeking it out, it’s hard to reach out to people who are at
home and not looking to reach out to the community.”
Though Club One-O-One officially started in September, with an open
house that drew more than two dozen people, Henderson says he’s been
nurturing the idea in his mind for three years.
Daniel, of SGM, moved to the region in 1988 to attend the University of
New Hampshire. Like Henderson, Daniel says he’s found the Seacoast to
be “incredibly accepting” of the GLBT community. Despite this, the
social scene is largely invisible, a problem that he attributes partly
to the lack of gay bars in the area. Daniel says that for the most
part, he and his friends go to Boston, Portland, Manchester or Ogunquit
if they want to hit the bars.
“There’s not a gay bar in the area per se,” he says. “Ogunquit is sort
of a different situation, because it’s predominantly gay … so people
see everybody going in and out (of the bars). Whereas here on the
Seacoast, (SGM) meet at the Unitarian church.”
For Henderson, it seems the idea of jumpstarting a scene is beyond his
humble ambitions. “No one person, or even just a few individuals, are
going to start that up,” he says.
“I’m not trying to change the face of Portsmouth. I’m just trying to create options for people.”
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